I was a lloyds customer for 20 years till today....

We have 3 current accounts with lloyds - not sure why - we've kind of collected them over the years. All of them had an overdraft - some of them were quite big.

We pay 20% interest on our overdrafts......20% f**king percent.The banks borrow money from the government, for free.

We're doing ok at the moment, trying to sort out our finances so I ring lloyds to put them all into 1 loan and start paying them off.

I'm not a bad bet. Own the majority of my house. Have a london flat, decent salary blah blah....

"no sir, you can't afford it"

err.....but you're already lending me the money, have another try.....??????

They don't budge. No option to talk to someone with a brain. No.

So I used a little of the grey matter....

Who, I think, had the least exposure in the crisis, who might be being savvy about stealing good customers from bad banks?


I'm now the proud owner of a co-operative loan @ 8.9%. All our lloyds accounts in the process of being closed.

One of life's small, but satisfying victories.

The economy.....

The national debt is 780b


PFI (all the schools and hospitals you see being built) - adds a further 20% (150b) to the total

public sector pensions, for which the government is liable, amount to around....780b

How much private sector output is based on public sector spending? I reckon around 20-30%

Mervin King has made it clear he thinks we're in for a shocking 5 year period.

Ask any vaguely credible financier and they will agree (I happen to have 2 friends who head up the research departments of 2 of the world's major investment banks and they believe the same).

This country is bankrupt.

Any talk of any sort of sustained "recovery" is utter nonesense.

In the near future, perhaps as early as the next 18 months.....

As the government slashes at public spending (as the Greeks are doing), in a desperate attempt to maintain their credit worthiness and international credibility, standards of living are going to fall faster than at any time since industrialisation.

Employment is going to rise to levels we have never before experienced and public order is going to become a major issue.

There is no rational argument you can put agianst this hypothesis.

And we haven't even touched on the price of oil.......

Downsize your house, pay off debt, learn a trade and start to think about how you will live on 30% of what you currently earn.

Its the only logical thing to do....

The pope song (slightly NSFW....)

Beautifully said...

Data marketing...more good thoughts from Scott Brinker

Web 3.0 Data Marketing

View more presentations from sjbrinker.

You can't understand the social web without being open yourself....

Most of those senor execs running brands who really want to understand "social media" should consider getting some counselling - I'm part way through doing a masters in psychotherapy – (I speak with some experience...)

Counselling isn't for everyone. But by far the biggest barrier for brands in the online world,  are the people they employ.

Brand as conversation isn't complex – its being human (I also happen to write algorithms for hedge funds for fun in my spare time – they’re complex – this isn’t). Only as a happy, calm, honest and open person - someone who has an easy relationship with themselves - someone who can be honest about their deficiencies as well as their successes - can you really grasp the depth and breadth of the opportunity out there.

Why?

First, if you are open, your ideas tend to resonate more deeply with the users you’re trying to empathise with.You can, quite literally sometimes, "hear" people better, when you yourself are open and listening properly.

Second. When inevitable crises arise, you’ll be able to enjoy and learn from the experience, rather than see them as an "audit of your soul" – as you may do now. It is usually only when things go wrong we learn and grow - so although these are times most people try to avoid, with a bit of counselling, you start to figure out they can actually be some of the most rewarding times in life. Bizare - but true.

Third. Genuinely successful people tend to display many of the attirubtes of people who know theselves well, once you start down the road, you'll find you resonate with them more. At a practical level you become more attractive to successful people - someone they want to associate with, hang out with, work with (sometimes even sleep with). Crazy but true. Although it misses the point of the excercise by a country mile - psychotherapy is a career development too.....

Seriously, visit the BACP. Find someone in your area. Book an appointment. What's the worst that could happen?

Up there with "the social media guru"....

We don't need a brief in the post digital age....

"Have a social mission, not just a commercial proposition"

"The bigger a brand gets, the smaller is should act"


This guy has a way with words...I like


But I question the premise - do we still need briefs?

Accept a brand is always on > set a strategy > do it